Download This Version in Microsoft Word format
TO REQUEST THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NAME THE INTERSECTION LOCATED AT THE JUNCTION OF BLUFF ROAD AND LOWER RICHLAND BOULEVARD IN RICHLAND COUNTY "HATTIE N. FRUSTER MEMORIAL INTERSECTION" AND ERECT APPROPRIATE SIGNS OR MARKERS AT THIS LOCATION CONTAINING THIS DESIGNATION.
Whereas, the daughter of the late Robert Newton and Vinnie Turnipseed Newton, Mrs. Fruster was born December 2, 1930, in Lower Richland County and educated in Richland County School District One. She later attended and graduated from the Waverly School of Cosmetology. At an early age, she was baptized at First Nazareth Baptist Church; and
Whereas, she was united in marriage to the late Amos Fruster and they were blessed with seven children, of which two preceded her in death. Returning to the Lower Richland area, she joined St. John Baptist Church where, for more than three decades, she served as a Sunday school teacher and served on the missionary board; and
Whereas, an early Civil Rights pioneer in the segregated South, Mrs. Fruster worked with such icons as the late Modjeska Simpkins, Attorney John Harper, and Beatrice McKnight to desegregate Richland County School District One; worked to end the practices of separate meetings between the police chief and white and black officers as well as the inability of black officers to arrest whites; investigated and uncovered gross disparity in pay at the State Hospital between white and black employees, resulting in a pay increase from twenty-five dollars every two weeks to one hundred five dollars; and participated in the lawsuit filed by Mr. Harper to end the use of "chain gang" prisoners to work on public roads; and
Whereas, Mrs. Fruster was instrumental in starting the first Head Start program and kindergarten in Hopkins and she served as secretary, treasurer, and president of Hopkins Elementary School PTA. As president, she was influential in persuading the Richland County District One School Board and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington, D.C., to build a new separate elementary school due to increased growth of the community; and
Whereas, Mrs. Fruster was among those who worked with Attorney Harper to organize the United Citizens Party to get blacks elected to the General Assembly and local offices in counties with black majority populations. Mrs. Fruster also helped established the Lower Richland NAACP in 1992, serving as its president until she departed this life on March 4, 2017. Among her many accolades are the Whitney M. Young Award from the Columbia Urban League, Woman of the Year by St. John Baptist Church, and she was honored by the United States House of Representatives; and
Whereas, it is fitting and proper that we honor Mrs. Hattie N. Fruster for a remarkable life of leadership devoted to fighting for just causes by naming an intersection in Lower Richland County in her memory. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:
That members of the General Assembly request the Department of Transportation name the intersection located at the junction of Bluff Road and Lower Richland Boulevard in Richland County "Hattie N. Fruster Memorial Intersection" and erect appropriate signs or markers at this location containing this designation.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to the Department of Transportation.
This web page was last updated on January 31, 2019 at 11:34 AM